E3 2023ās event line-up takes another hit, as Sega and Tencent join Ubisoft in their withdrawal from the expo.
In a further blow for the organisers of this summerās E3 event in Los Angeles, Sega and Tencent are among the latest big names to withdraw from the show.
IGN's Kat Bailey and Rebekah Valentine first broke the news, having contacted a number of the industryās biggest names to see if they were planning to appear at the expo. Many, such as EA, Square Enix and Epic Games, failed to respond. Sega and Level Infinite (a developer owned by Chinese conglomerate, Tencent) did reply, however, and confirmed that they wouldnāt be involved in the event.
More ominously, IGN reports that āmore publishers plan to skip E3, but they have yet to make a formal announcement.ā
Other publishers could indeed break cover as the expoās planned June start date approaches; since that IGN piece was originally published, Hotline Miami publisher Devolver Digital has said that it isnāt appearing at the event, either.
We heard yesterday that Ubisoft has also dropped out, while Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have already confirmed that they wonāt be making an appearance.
The high-profile drop-outs, and lack of clarity over who exactly is attending, means there has been growing speculation that E3 might be called off altogether. Andy Robinson, the reliably well-connected editor of VGC, has suggested the event could be cancelled as soon as this week.
It's often tough to separate the facts from the conjecture on E3, but unsurprisingly I'm really not hearing good things. Would not be surprised at all if it's called off this week ā but I hope it isn't. I feel so sorry for those behind it who did everything asked of them
— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) March 28, 2023
If that happens, then itāll be a dark moment for an event that has been a games industry fixture since the mid 1990s. But with publishers increasingly turning to digital marketing for their publicity, and rival expos like Gamescom and PAX to compete with, it could prove to be a difficult year for E3 ā and not the ārecognisably epicā reboot its new organisers, ReedPop, had initially billed.
E3 is currently scheduled to run from 13 to 16 June 2023 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.